Darryl McCarthy
Darryl McCarthy was a coal miner from Grantville. Coming from a family of ardent Irish nationalists, he was proud of his heritage, but his knowledge of actual Irish history -- or history in general -- was terrible. Immediately after the Ring of Fire, he was part of the posse that formed around Police Chief Dan Frost and Mike Stearns. After Frost killed two assailants who were chasing an unknown girl, McCarthy described the damage Frost's shooting had inflicted. McCarthy participated in the the Battle of the Farm House and the subsequent rescue of Balthazar Abrabanel and his daughter, Rebecca. He was best friends with Harry Lefferts. Days later, McCarthy was among the UMWA members who contacted Alexander Mackay's cavalry. Owing to their common heritage, McCarthy did not assume them to be adversaries. While he was correct in this instance, Stearns and his cabinet were not pleased with McCarthy's lax approach (Frank Jackson reminded McCarthy that McCarthy's uncle Jake had been serving a sentence for second-degree murder when he was killed in prison, illustrating how dangerous family could be). In 1633, Darryl became a "servant" for the Grantville embassy in England. In actuality, Darryl was there as security for the embassy, who secretly carried his own handgun. Darryl and his party were subsequently placed under house arrest in the Tower of London; however, as a "servant", Darryl was given permission to move around the Tower. Darryl didn't recognize the name Thomas Wentworth, who was responsible for interning the embassy in the Tower, until Melissa Mailey noted that, in the OTL, Wentworth would have been on his way to Ireland. At that point, Darryl agitatedly recognized him as "Black Tom Tyrant" for his historical role as Deputy over Ireland, but mistakenly asserted that he had "killed the Men of '98" (a reference to the Irish Rebellion of 1798), and was unfazed by Mailey's correction of his historical error. Not long afterward, Darryl witnessed Oliver Cromwell being chained and imprisoned for his role in the English Civil War. Darryl was not very fond of Cromwell for his later role in the conquest of Ireland. He immediately bore a major hatred towards Cromwell and expressed hopes for his execution, only to be disciplined by Mailey, who pointed out that, in 1633, Cromwell was well-known in his district, but was obscure outside of it. He was also surprised to learn that what Cromwell was known for, to the extent he was known at all, was defending the poor farmers of his district. Darryl became the "designated sprayer" of DDT within the Tower, which gave him access to prisoners' cells in the dungeons. He used this to establish contact with Cromwell, smuggle a hand-held radio to him, and occasionally change the batteries. After a few meetings with Cromwell, Darryl become somewhat disconcerted because the man in the cell was not what he expected "Oliver Cromwell" to be. After a long talk with Tom Simpson, Darryl decided that the Oliver Cromwell in the cell, taken on his own terms, was someone he had no problem with. Category:Americans Category:1632 Characters Category:Miners Category:Catholics